


Tampering With Gemstones and Feelings

by Mantype



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Confession, F/F, Happy Ending, basically entrapta messes with the gemstones and mermista's got to show some emotion to stop her, mermista centric! how rare for me i love perfuma too much
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-24
Updated: 2019-09-24
Packaged: 2020-10-27 07:48:21
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,299
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20756864
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mantype/pseuds/Mantype
Summary: Perfuma fainted because of tampering with the gemstones and Mermista is more than a little affected.





	Tampering With Gemstones and Feelings

**Author's Note:**

> this is for the she-ra bisexual visibility zine! go check it out on tumblr @spopzine or download it for free here: https://gumroad.com/l/spopzinepages
> 
> this zine was so much fun to be a part of and I'm so impressed with everyone's work !!

The princess alliance was fighting in the whispering woods, and Perfuma was vine surfing through the air around the robots. 

Then, the sky went black for just a second. 

Perfuma screamed, her vines rapidly wilting before her very eyes, and then she began to fall, rapidly, straight toward where Mermista was standing below. Luckily, Mermista’s reflexes had been trained well from years of catching Sea Hawk, and she caught the falling princess easily.

Mermista smiled teasingly, holding Perfuma gently in her arms, “Falling for me already, flower princess?”

And that’s when Perfuma fainted. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It had already been two days and Perfuma didn’t seem to be waking up anytime soon. An expedition to Plumeria had proved the theory haunting the thoughts of all of the princesses: Entrapta was messing with the gemstones again. The princesses were now gathered in the war council room, trying to come up with a plan to fix the problem. 

Glimmer, always quick to come up with a plan, spoke up first; “We should sneak into the Horde base and disband Entrapta’s technology.”

Adora, of course, immediately volunteered to go. She still felt guilty about the first mission to the horde and, even though Entrapta had survived after all, was unwilling to let any of the other members of the alliance to get in harm’s way.

Her eagerness soon proved for naught as all the princesses assembled began volunteering and arguing over who should go. All the while Mermista stayed silent, her head rested on her hand, a frown cutting through her face. 

As the cacophony of voices finally began to die down Mermista spoke, her voice monotonous as usual, and everyone shut up to listen. “I’m going. I don’t really care what any of you say, it makes the most sense. I can sneak in through the sewers like last time, talk to Entrapta one on one and be out of there in no time. If I can’t convince her to stop I’ll just break her machine or whatever.” 

The war council was silent. Unsure how to respond, they all turned one by one to Queen Angela, waiting for her input. 

“Mermista, you know how dangerous that is… I can’t just send you alone.” 

“Whatever, I’ll just go anyway. Sea Hawk’ll get me there.” And with that Mermista stood up and left the room, ignoring the worried looks everyone was giving her. 

Still in the council room, Angela spoke again, more to herself than anyone in the room, “Losing Perfuma sure had gotten to her… poor girl.” 

~~~~~~~~~~

Mermista sat dismally on her throne, unsure what to do next. How in the world was she supposed to convince Entrapta to stop doing what she knew the women loved most: experimenting? She knew she could always just splash some water on the machine or something and break it, but she realized that was only a temporary solution, she needed to prevent this from happening again by showing Entrapta how much it was hurting everyone. She hated emotional things like this. 

“Butler, can you call Sea Hawk in? We need to do some planning.” 

“Of course your highness, although you could probably call him in yourself, he’s been waiting behind the door for a while now.”

“Right, typical Sea Hawk.” Mermista rolled her eyes. “Hey! You can come in now!”

Sea Hawk bowed deeply as he entered the door, entertaining his usual theatrics. “My lady, however can I, the great Sea Hawk, be of use to you?”

Mermista smiled in spite of herself. Sure, she’d never admit it out loud, but Sea Hawk was her best friend. Once upon a time they had gone on a couple dates, but they had both decided it was for the best to remain as friends. It was the most amicable of Mermista’s breakup with various boyfriends and girlfriends, and she was glad she had someone to rely on who trusted her judgement. 

“We’re invading the Horde. Well, to be more specific, I’m infiltrating the Horde, by myself. But I’ll need a ride.”

“I trust that’s where I come in? The Dragon’s Daughter IV is ready to take you anywhere, anytime. I’m at your service.”

“Thank you, Sea Hawk. I know I don’t say it very often but I appreciate you always being here for me.”

Sea Hawk laughed boisterously. “You really aren’t yourself. Let’s get that princess saved so you can be yourself again,” he chuckled.

Mermista’s face was shaded in pink. She managed to mumble, “Can’t a girl just show her thanks around here without being emotionally analyzed?”

“Of course, of course. Forget I ever said anything,” Sea Hawk said, winking. 

“Whatever. We leave at midday tomorrow.”

~~~~~~~~ 

The sail to the fright zone could be described as grumpy at best. Mermista hadn’t exactly been sleeping well the last couple days, and it was beginning to seriously catch up with her. She had spent much of the trip sitting by the helm, glowering at everything they passed. The only sound that was to be heard was Sea Hawk softly humming shanties to himself. He would have been singing them loud and proud, but the look Mermista had given him had been enough for him to know that was the opposite of a good idea. 

The two had docked the ship at a couple rocks, and Mermista gave Sea Hawk a quick hug before turning to leave to her mission. “Bye Sea Hawk, I’ll see you soon.”

See Hawk laughed his pirate laugh and shooed her off; “Go fix this Mermista, I have my full trust in you.” 

~~~~~ 

And so she was off, swimming back through the same disgusting sewers, until she arrived at a grate through which she heard the sounds of tinkering, and above all the distinct sound of Entrapta speaking to her voice recorder. Destination acquired.

Mermista took about ten seconds to ponder how she was going to approach Entrapta now she was actually here before deciding she’d do anything to get out of that damn sewer, even if meant going in without a fully formed plan. 

She burst out of the sewer, perhaps a little too dramatically, and before she knew it Entrapta was turned towards her, half yelling and already speaking into her recorder. “The grumpy ocean princess just came out of the sewers. I’m not sure what she’s doing here. Maybe I should alert Catra. She’d know what to do with her.” 

“No wait! Please, don’t tell Catra I’m here. I only came to talk to you. I swear I don’t want to cause you any harm.”

Entrapta pondered this for a second, speaking to herself as she processed her thoughts, “The ocean princess doesn’t seem to have any ill intent. But I still don’t trust her after,” she paused, recalling the last time she has been in the same room as Mermista. “After she and the other left me behind. But maybe I should listen to what she has to say. Who knows, it could be interesting.” She met Mermista’s eyes. “I’ll listen.”

Mermista reeled. She had forgotten how difficult it must have been for Entrapta. They had thought her dead, and she, she had been abandoned by some of her very first friends. “Entrapta I- you don’t have to trust me. But believe me when I tell you, we did not mean to abandon you. We thought you were dead. You were stuck in an incinerator, what else were we supposed to think?! Perfuma-” Mermista paused, thinking of Plumeria’s unresponsive princess. She showed more emotion than she would have preferred with her next words, choking up a bit: “Perfuma built a statue out of her plants in your honor. And now- Perfuma- she’s...”

Entrapta was not the best at social cues, but she could hear the raw emotion in Mermista’s voice, a rare occurrence for a princess who often kept herself closed off. She could tell Mermista wasn’t lying, about any of what she was saying. And she could tell that something was wrong with Perfuma. “What happened to the flower princess?”

“She fainted mid battle, that’s why I’m here. We think you must have been tampering with the runestones again because the heartblossom is dim, and the tree is dying. And, well, so is Perfuma.”

“Fascinating! How long has she been out for? Probably around 3 days if my calculations are correct…”

“Entrapta. Please. I know how much science means to you, but please, I can’t bear to lose Perf-” Mermista said. “Another princess. It was bad enough thinking you were dead.”

“Oh of course sorry.” Entrapta turned away. She needed a moment to process. “Log entry day 452. My science is hurting the other princesses. They didn’t mean to abandon me. This is a lot of information to take it at once. I think maybe further experiments on the gemstones should be… called off. I hate to stop an experiment, but I feel as though this one is… not right.”

Mermista listened anxiously to Entrapta’s muttering. She relaxed, the tension leaving her shoulders as the technical master decided to cancel further tampering. 

Suddenly, they both heard the sound of Catra’s voice from down the hallway. 

“I have to go,” Mermista said. “Thank you, Entrapta, for listening. I know you could have just as easily gotten me captured.”

“Of course! Even if I have to cancel this experiment, you’ve provided me with valuable data.”

“And Entrapta, I know there’s more science to be done here in the freight zone but if you ever need a place to go… the rebellion could also use a skilled technician to help save lives. We’d be happy to have you back. Uh. Think about it I guess.”

And with that, Mermista dove back into her worst nightmare, the sewer. 

~~~~~~

When Mermista got back to brightmoon, Bow was waiting for her. “Oh good, you’re here. Perfuma woke up a couple hours ago and we filled her in on the situation.” Bow said, adding on teasingly, “Including how worried you were about her.”

Mermista rolled her eyes, but even she couldn’t hide her blush. “Just, take me there already.”

“Right away!” 

The two walked to the spare bedroom where Perfuma had been sleeping in relative silence. Mermista was feeling anxious, and she was doing her best to hide it by simply not saying anything. 

“Here we are!” Bow’s voice was cheery as usual as he opened the door. He let Mermista go in first and did not follow. “I’ll let you two catch up on your own. A knight in shining armour returning to her princess.”

“Wait, no! Bow!” Mermista shouted back at him, but it was too late, he was already shutting the door behind her. She muttered “Rude,” before turning toward where Perfuma was somewhat feebly lying on a bed.

“Hey, Mermista,” Perfuma smiled, warm and inviting. 

“Hey. Um... ” Mermista found herself unable to find any words to say to girl opposite her.

“Thanks for saving me. I really appreciate it.” 

“Yeah, you’re welcome I guess. Nothing really to it.”

“Bow told me about how you volunteered to go to the fright zone, how you planned to swim through the sewers… did you?”

“Well, you’re awake aren’t you?” Mermista mentaly beratered herself for answering so stiffly, and quickly followed her quention up. “I mean, yeah. It’s gross and horrible but I’d do it again any time if it meant saving you.” She winced, that was a little too vulnerable. “Er- if it meant saving a princess. Any princess. Or not princess. I’d do it for Sea Hawk. And Bow.” Mermista wanted to slap herself. She needed to stop talking right now, and forever.

Perfuma laughed. Mermista… melted. “I think perhaps, the one falling for the other is you Mermista.” 

Mermista’s eyes widened, her face red. “I- that’s not fair. I was so worried about you. And- and you decide to just use my own line against me?”

“I’ll take that as a yes?”

“No!” Mermista watched Perfuma’s face fall. That sure hadn’t gone as she had planned. She couldn’t stand to see her sad. Obviously she liked Perfuma, a lot. Definitely more than liked. Her reaction had been involuntary. “Maybe. I mean. Yes. I like you, sort of.” Mermista buried her hace in her hands. “Aaaaagh. Why is this so hard?!”

Perfuma’s face lifted again. “Are you asking me, or the first ones?” she teased. “For the record though, I am too. And I’m sorry for pressuring you into your feelings, I know it can be difficult.”

How Perfuma could be so open and direct was a mystery to Mermista. “No I, I need to get it out. Can’t hold stuff like that in forever. So, forgiven I guess.”

Perfuma smiled brightly. She reached out and grabbed Mermista hand. “Come here, I’m still weak but I need to give you a hug. Emotions come with hugs, those are the rules.” 

Mermista didn’t even spare a thought to personal space and let herself be pulled into Perfuma’s embrace. The two stayed there for a while, lying on the bed in each others’ arms, just glad to be in each others’ presence, with their feelings out in the open.

“You know I really ought to give you some form of thanks other than forcing you to admit to liking me. Maybe you have something in mind?”

“Well, a kiss for my effort wouldn’t be so bad. What do you think?”

“Oh? Now who’s the forward one. I’m so proud.”

“That’s not an answer, flower girl.”

“Maybe I’m just too weak to move… I’ve only just woken up from a three day long sleep after all.”

“If you had enough energy to tease me about my feelings, I think you sh-”

Perfuma cut her off, closing the gap between their lips with a kiss. “Is that answer enough for you?”


End file.
